Gage and scriber



United States Patent O GAGE AND SCRIBER Willman I. Miller, Downers Grove, lll.

Application September 14, 1953, Serial No. 379,937 1 Claim. (Cl. 33-42) This invention relates to marking or scribing instruments and more particularly to a gage and scriber device for carpenters, mechanics and others for marking materials and work in the course of fabrication or construction.

One object is to provide an instrument of the class designated that is simple in construction, novel and efcient in operation, durable in use and inexpensive to manufacture. A further object is to provide a gage and scriber adapted for use on a variety of materials, one wherein the parts are very readily assembled, adjusted and operated and one wherein the marking `needle is readily applied, vadjusted andas easily removed for sharpening or replacement.

Other and additional objects of the instant invention will become more apparent from the following description, defined in the claim, and understood from the accompanying drawing forming part of this disclosure, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a face view of `the instant gage and scriber illustrating an application of same.

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the gage and scriber of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of same.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken Vapproximately on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal central sectional view, enlarged, through a portion of the instrument taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. l, and,

Fig. 6 is an end view of Fig. 1.

The reference numeral 1 denotes a scale, here shown of moderate length for easy handling and graduated in inches and fractions thereof throughout except at one end where it is folded at upon itself, the material of the scale having a moderate degree of resiliency, the folded end 2 of the scale being secured to the body portion by a rivet 3 located closely adjacent the non-graduated edge and the fold or bend in the scale, the body portion and the folded end -thereof being each formed with a crimp 4, the crimps being disposed outwardly from and in line with each other and disposed at an angle to the axis of the scale and extending from edge to edge thereof, the closely adjacent crimps forming a bore 4a the wall of which is formed with threads 5 extending from the nongraduated'edge of the scale only slightly more than half way to the graduated edge, said bore adapted to receive the complementarily threaded screw 6, said rivet 3 positioned between said crimps 4 and the bend in said scale. A lock nut 7 arranged upon said screw 6 is adapted to be moved manually thereover into engagement with the scale to arrest movement of said screw in one direction when desired.

It will be noted that the screw threads 5 are diminished or of lesser depth from a point 5a, Fig. 5, to a point 5b, and from the point 5b -to the adjacent end of the bore the bore wall is smooth and without screw threads. The

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shallow screw threads between points 5a, 5b when traversed by the screw 6 cause a slight expansion of the crimps. Received in the non-threaded end of the bore is the needle point 8 normally retained in position by friction of the shallow bore threads. When the screw is moved into the bore sufficiently it will engage and adjust the needle and finally disengage the bore threads from the needle and allow the latter to drop from the bore to permit sharpening or replacement by a new needle. The re-sharpened or new needle may be inserted in the bore from its non-threaded end 'and by pressure of a semi-hard material pressed against the needle point manually, after the lock-nut 7 has been moved out of engagement with the bore mouth, causing the needle to engage the shallow bore threads.

Adjustably and removably carried by the scale 1 is the substantially U-shaped resilient gage 9, the sides of the gage diverging somewhat as they recede from the base, the sides being formed with opposed longitudinal slots 10 receiving the scale, adjustment of the gage upon the scale being effected by rst manually pressing the gage sides into parallelism. When the gage is released by the operator the gage sides will spring back to normal position whereupon they automatically obtain a dual purchase in opposite directions upon the scale thus lock` ing the scale and gage together in adjusted position. It will be noted that the axis of the bore 4a is substantially parallel to the adjacent side of the gage in the normal position of the gage.

In use the gage is set at the point upon the scale desired, the work 11 (shown in broken lines in Fig. l) is then placed against the gage in conventional manner and beneath the needle point and the work marked thereby as desired. The fact that the adjacent side of the gage is substantially parallel Ito the axis of the bore 4a permits veryshort measurements to be taken. The rivet 3 is located adjacent the threaded end of the bore 4a and the non-graduated edge of the scale to permit more readily the expansion of the non-threaded end of the bore as the screw is moved into the bore while retaining the opposite end of the bore against expansion.

What is claimed is:

In a gage and scriber, an elongated resilient scale hav ing one end bent upon itself, said scale and said end crimped contiguously at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said scale and defining a bore, said bore threaded throughout a portion of its length, certain of said threads being relatively shallow, a needle in said bore in yielding locked engagement with said shallow threads, a rivet connecting said scale and the bent end thereof between said bore and the bend in said scale remote from said needle, a needle-engaging' screw in said bore engaging lthe threads thereof and expanding a portion of said bore to release said needle, and an U-shaped gage member adjustably carried by said scale, one side of said gage member normally parallel to said bore.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 319,095 Joel June 2, 1885 694,774 Muehlberg Mar. 4, 1902 844,157 Loughborough Feb. 12, 1907 998,616 Jewell et al. July 25, 1911 1,007,424 Bjorklund Oct. 3l, 1911 2,474,864 Roedding July 5, 1949 2,581,538 Joy Jan. 8, 1952 2,588,658 Plotnik Mar. 11, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 635,867 Great Britain Apr. 19, 1950 

